I think Pirelli will be sponsor and provide tires only for JWRC and not for the other categories.
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I think Pirelli will be sponsor and provide tires only for JWRC and not for the other categories.
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Amen. With shorter gaps between legs and remote tire service between loops, instead repeated visits to service park, most of current 300/350 ss kms events (not just Sweden and Finland) could be run in just 2 days.
Besides more compact sprint events, I’d add not 2 but 4 big ‘Grand Slam’ old school rallys (4 to 5 days, 500 to 600 ss kms): MC; GB; NZ and Argentina.
For sure it won’t happen, as old days are long gone and no one can actually say WRC is living bad times (quite the opposite), still hearing Mahonen arguments on Wales Rally makes me sad about the future.
Wales second leg was one of the most entertaining days of recent years (for fans at home and even more for those spectating, like the luckiest of you mentioned). Leg started at 6am and finished after 8pm, breaking the boring 9 to 5 WRC routine; no service between first and second loop, saving drivers from long travels to service park and shortening time gaps between stage passes; at the end, no pointless SSS but two real night stages, adding fantastic excitement to the event!
Yes, second leg without even a tire service on first loops was a bit extreme and having only 40 SS kms on Sunday is embarrassing (besides screwing the 25% average), but ’17 Wales itinerary should be praised as a valid experience with positive lessons for the future, instead of being disapproved in such a short minded way.
Btw, the empty hours service park argument is BS; for a long time VIP’s are also taken to stages to feel the real thing and they love it; for the general public, an hour or two visiting evening service is more than enough for them.
Let's look at this closer
Actually there were stages from 7:55 to 12:37, then a long gap with just one super special (yes, a pointless SSS), and then again two stages from 18:55 to 19:47. And there was a service between the two legs, before the two night stages. In the end it's just a normal day of 2x4 stages just divided differently.Quote:
SS 8 Aberhirnant 1 13.91km 07:55
SS 9 Dyfnant 1 17.91km 08:47
SS 10 Gartheiniog 1 12.61km 09:59
SS 11 Dyfi 1 25.86km 10:28
SS 12 Gartheiniog 2 12.61km 12:08
SS 13 Dyfi 2 25.86km 12:37
SS 14 Cholmondeley Castle 1.80km 15:48
Service E (Deeside) 16:55
SS 15 Aberhirnant 2 13.91km 18:55
SS 16 Dyfnant 2 17.91km 19:47
Service F (Deeside) 22:26
A better example of a proper day of rallying was the Friday of Rally Finland, with continuous stages from 7:12 to 11:42 (basically as long as the first part of the Wales Saturday) and then from 15:00 to 20:30, 12 in total.
Quote:
SS 2 Halinen 1 7.65km 07:12
SS 3 Urria 1 12.75km 07:45
SS 4 Jukojärvi 1 21.31km 08:48
SS 5 Halinen 2 7.65km 10:06
SS 6 Urria 2 12.75km 10:39
SS 7 Jukojärvi 2 21.31km 11:42
Service B (Jyväskylä - Paviljonki) 13:37
SS 8 Äänekoski ‐ Valtra 1 7.39km 15:00
SS 9 Laukaa 1 11.76km 16:13
SS 10 Lankamaa 21.68km 17:11
SS 11 Äänekoski ‐ Valtra 2 7.39km 18:09
SS 12 Laukaa 2 11.76km 19:22
SS 13 Harju 2 2.31km 20:30
Mate, Wales 2nd leg started at 6.10am (first car service) and it ended after 10pm (not after 8, like I’ve mentioned); SS8, 9, 10 and 11 are a loop, therefore it's right to say there was no service between initial loops; only between second loop (after SS14 to be more precise), and night stages. For sure a shorter break between SS14 and the late stages (adding one more night stage) would made it even more interesting, but overall, Wales organizers did a nice effort to put a different show on the road and they’ve succeeded.
Btw, taking Finland case as example isn’t fair at all; how many European WRC events have gravel stages on host city limits, like Jyvaskyla has? In most events crews spends 1 or 2 hours getting to gravel stages regions, meaning long travels to service park between loops and boring waiting hours for spectators. Apparently, Mahonen doesn’t care about it, so he can’t appreciate those, like Wales organizers, who try to minimize that issue.
I enjoyed the SSS Rallyfest on Day 2 of Rally GB, as did many many thousands of fans.
But dragging the driver's from mid-Wales right across the English border for it (and then up to the SP) was a bit much.
Especially when they then had to drive back deep into Wales for the two night stages.
That one small spectator stage affects the entire leg on the Saturday. I'd question whether it's worth it. With the amount of people trekking into the forests maybe you could argue it's been working. Would be interesting to know what percentage of SSS goers head into the forests a year or two later for the 'proper rallying'. Or on the flip side you could say maybe it's no longer required.
I didn't hear a single good word about Tir Prince from anyone who went, so not sure if that will be back.
The biggest headache for the organizers this year has been that the live stage on Saturday has to be at 12:08 which in the past was the time you usually were at service.